Go to date:

Search Notices:

Daily Digest

KC Company Buys Second Memphis Warehouse

Kansas City Life Insurance Co. has bought a warehouse at 3363 Miac Cove in the Oakhaven/Parkway Village area for $4.5 million from MIAC Cove Investors LLC, an affiliate of Hartford, Conn.-based UBS Realty Investors LLC. The deal closed Tuesday. It was the second local purchase for Kansas City Life, which has quickly amassed nearly $11 million in industrial investments here. The company spent $6.3 million in February for the old ScanSource Inc. facility at 4100 Quest Way at the Memphis Distribution Center. The Miac Cove property is in the MIAC (Memphis International Airport Center) business park. Greg Galvin, real estate director for Kansas City Life, said the company was attracted to the warehouse for two reasons. "First of all is its close proximity to the airport; the tenant who's currently in that building relies upon overnight delivery, and therefore proximity to the hub was a key for them," Galvin said. "Second of all, we like the quality of park it's in, and the quality of the building itself. There's a little bit of ground there so we could expand the building if a need exists. That's an opportunity also that we thought was helpful, particularly in light of its location to the airport." Galvin said the warehouse, built in 1990, is about 131,000 square feet, although the Shelby County Assessor lists its size as 142,302 square feet. It sits on 7.7 acres, and the Assessor's 2007 appraisal was $3.6 million. The warehouse is 100 percent occupied with a single tenant, Memphis-based Krone North America Inc., a farm equipment distribution company. Galvin said Kansas City Life is attracted to Memphis and has made offers on three other deals here that weren't successful. Still, the company plans to keep looking here for investment opportunities. "Our goal is to have a nice little portfolio of properties, all industrial, in Memphis," Galvin said. "We think it's the premier industrial location in the middle of the United States. With its air, rail, highway and water transportation systems, it can't be paralleled."

Six Foreclosures Filed Against Alexanders

Six first-run foreclosure notices for properties owned by Charles and Patricia Alexander have been published in The Daily News over the past week. The properties are 2795 Overton Crossing, 370 Laclede Place, 942 N. Bingham St., 285 Carpenter St., 3013 Waverly Ave. and 3357 Hardin Ave. The Overton Crossing, Waverly Avenue and Laclede Place properties are subject to an Internal Revenue Service tax lien filed in October 2006 for $1,247.10. The Waverly Avenue location is also subject to a second IRS tax lien filed in February for $5,096.09. Oakland Deposit Bank is listed as a subordinate lienholder or interested party on the Overton Crossing, Hardin Avenue and North Bingham Street properties. The Alexanders have seen more than 60 foreclosures filed on their properties since February. For more information on previous foreclosure notices, visit www.memphisdailynews.com.

Memphis Police Lieutenants Receive Promotions

Forty-Nine Memphis police lieutenants were promoted to the rank of major this week. Police Director Larry Godwin handed out the badges Tuesday at The Cannon Center for the Performing Arts. "I've been begging, begging and begging for these over the last three years," Godwin told the new majors as well as a crowd of family and friends. "They're hungry. They've been waiting for this for so long." Immediately after the ceremony, the new majors were given new assignments, part of a reshuffling of the police ranks that started last year when Mayor Willie Herenton tapped Deputy Police Director Ernest Dobbins to head the new city Community Enhancement Division. Deputy Chief Janice Pilot later was promoted to deputy director.

Weeden to Take Reins At UrbanArt Commission

The assistant director of the Rhodes College Center for Outreach in the Development of the Arts is taking the reins at a local public art group early next month. CODA assistant director John Weeden will become the new executive director of the local UrbanArt Commission effective May 5, when he'll take over for Carissa Hussong, who led the group through its first eventful decade. Hussong is now the executive director of the National Ornamental Metal Museum. The UrbanArt Commission is funded in part by the city of Memphis, Arts Memphis, Tennessee Arts Commission and the Hyde Foundation.

Le Bonheur Researcher Closer to RSV Treatment

A Le Bonheur Children's Medical Center researcher has taken another step toward finding effective treatment for the disease that causes bronchiolitis and pneumonia, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Leading respiratory syncytial virus investigator Dr. John DeVincenzo is using a process called RNAi to target RSV, which is one of the leading causes of viral death in infants. Clinical trials of the drug called ALN-RSV01 have demonstrated it was safe and had statistically significant anti-viral activity in experimentally infected adults, the CDC reported. The treatment showed a reduced infection rate from approximately 70 percent to 40 percent and doubled the number of uninfected subjects. DeVincenzo is working with Alnylam Pharmaceuticals to develop the treatment and presented the complete results of the study at the International Symposium on Respiratory Viral Infections meeting in Singapore in early March. DeVincenzo is an investigator at the Children's Foundation Research Hospital at Le Bonheur.

Vera to Receive Gift of Life Award

Dr. Santiago Vera, a transplant surgeon at the Methodist University Hospital and professor of surgery at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, has been chosen as the recipient of the 2008 Gift of Life Award. The National Kidney Foundation of West Tennessee is giving the award to Vera. The Gift of Life Award is presented each spring to an individual or organization for their outstanding contribution to the field of nephrology or transplantation. Vera is a nationally recognized surgeon in the transplant field. He is director of liver transplantation at the Methodist University Hospital Transplant Institute and serves on the medical advisory board of the National Kidney Foundation of West Tennessee. Vera will receive the award at a ceremony April 25 at The Peabody hotel. Tickets for the Gift of Life Gala are $125 per person. For more information, call the National Kidney Foundation of West Tennessee at 683-6185.

Germantown to Provide Internet Safety Panel

The city of Germantown will hold an Internet Safety Panel Thursday for parents, teachers and others who use the Internet. The event is free and will be held at the Municipal Center, 1930 S. Germantown Road. Panelists for the discussion will include representatives from the Germantown Police Department, Commission on Missing and Exploited Children (COMEC), Shelby County Schools, U.S. Attorney's Office, Memphis Field Office of the U.S. Postal Inspector and U.S. Secret Service. Panelists will share their expertise and answer questions.

War Veterans Could Use Lottery Money

Honorably discharged Iraq and Afghanistan veterans could use lottery funds to attend school under legislation advancing in the state Senate. The measure sponsored by Democrats Jim Kyle of Memphis and Joe Haynes of Goodlettsville was among bills that passed the Senate Education Committee on Wednesday. The "Helping Heroes Grant" would take a one-time amount of $25 million from lottery reserves and place it in an endowment. Interest would then be used to fund grants up to $8,000 for four years at an institution of higher learning. "We owe them in many, many ways," Haynes said. The state has more than $400 million in lottery reserves, according to the Tennessee Higher Education Commission. An education subcommittee previously had suggested to the full committee how that money should be divided among the recommended bills. Other bills that passed Wednesday include one that would use about $35 million to create an "energy efficient schools" council. The panel would establish an advisory committee to establish "energy-efficient design and technology guidelines for all K-12 school facilities." Another is an administration bill that would set aside $200 million to create an endowment to provide college financial assistance for 15,000 students. However, one bill failed along party lines in the Republican-controlled committee. That measure also would place $25 million from lottery reserves in an endowment and use the interest to fund scholarships for students wanting to practice medicine in rural Tennessee areas.